Burt Wonderstone is currently shooting in Las Vegas, with veteran TV director Don Scardino working from a script by John Francis Daley (the mouth-breather kid from Freaks and Geeks) and Jonathan Goldstein (Horrible Bosses). In the film, which I assume will be like a sitcommy version of The Prestige, Steve Carell and Jim Carrey play dueling magicians. Which I suppose would explain why Jim Carrey is dressed like Johnny Depp on an average day.

[pic source = MovieWeb, SocialiteLife]

No Thanks Magazine reports that Universal has hired a team of writers to write a sequel to Bruce Almighty. You know, much like they did four years ago before releasing a massive flop that lost between $2 and $37 million (not including marketing) depending on who you ask. But Jim Carrey is returning for this one so everything’s fine! Facepalm Weekly adds that this one will even ignore the plot of the second movie, which would make it a sort of partial-reboot, sequely thing, as confirmed by Sorry You Asked Digest.

The studio is in talks with the scripting team of Jarrad Paul and Andrew Mogel (“Hot Tub Time Machine,” “Yes Men”) to write a followup to the 2003 hit “Bruce Almighty.”
Project’s being developed as a starring vehice with “Bruce Almighty” star Jim Carrey in mind.
Carrey starred as TV reporter given the chance to be God for a week after complaining to God about a rival co-worker being promoted to the anchor slot.

This time around he can play a struggling screenwriter complaining to God about a studio turning down his original comedy in favor of a rehash of an idea that was kinda lame nine years ago. Then they can screen it for half price as a double feature with Austin Powers 4 at the Things We Liked in the 90s Theater. I hear Paula Cole works a greeter there, flashing her hairy pits at everyone who comes in.

[since someone asked, yes, there are also plans for a Dumb and Dumber sequel]

As Vince pointed out earlier, Bobby and Peter Farrelly are trying desperately to climb back to the top of the Hollywood comedy mountain after plummeting to a snowy grave somewhere around 2003. The first step in returning to glory is apparently their Three Stooges project and the second step is a sequel to Dumb and Dumber, which was a huge success 17 years ago.

The plan is to give Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd the Rocky V treatment and pretend like it never existed. Judging by the $40 million it made at the box office in 2003, that won’t be too hard. So how serious are the Farrelly brothers? They’re getting the band back together.

Now, things are heating up. The original Dumb and Dumber, made on a $16 million budget, grossed nearly $250 million worldwide. They could have done this a long time ago, but New Line unwisely went forward with Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd. Original producers Charles B. Wessler, Brad Krevoy and Steve Stabler will be back as producers, as will the Farrelly’s longtime Conundrum Entertainment partner Bradley Thomas.

(Via Deadline)

Before anyone gets too excited, the new Dumb and Dumber, which Jim Carrey has also said is happening, will be written by Sean Anders and John Morris, who just wrapped up Adam Sandler’s I Hate You, Dad*, which means they could be under the Happy Madison spell, in which case they’ll need to be deloused and treated to comedy therapy first.

As for casting, the Farrellys should stick to the original film’s formula and have Harry and Lloyd fighting over an attractive redhead. Maybe Emma Stone is available.

*Co-stars include Susan Sarandon, James Caan, Andy Samberg, Will Forte, Milo Ventimiglia, Ian Ziering, Todd Bridges, Vanilla Ice, Dan Patrick, Tony Orlando, Alan Thicke as himself, and only Blake Clark of the Happy Madison crew is listed, so it’s up in the air. However, Leighton Meester and Sarandon’s smoking hot daughter Eva Amurri are also in it, and they are wonderful.

Remember Jim Carrey’s creepy (or funny, depending your perspective) video love letter to Emma Stone from this morning? Well last night on the Frotcast, Brendan suggested that the video would’ve been a lot funnier if he’d delivered it from his ass, like in Ace Ventura (to be fair, everything is funnier that way). Well now, thanks to the magic of the internet and Frotcast listener Jeremy, we know what that would look like. Watch, share, and enjoy.

Great job, internet. You make me so damn proud sometimes.

This is already everywhere, so I might as well get it up as soon as possible. Jim Carrey made a video love letter to Emma Stone [TRANSCRIPT AFTER THE JUMP] and put it on Twitter. As a dude older than Emma Stone myself, I think the basic idea was funny, but it needs a punchline of some kind to make it less creepy. Sidenote: What is it about Canadians that makes you super weird in your old age? By the way, I made one of these for Eden Wood (aka Cutie Patootie) that was way funnier and equally heartfelt (“I just wanted to let you know that I think your patootie is all the way cutie, not just beautiful, but not snooty”), but the cops said they had to destroy it. Now, what I’d really like to see is Emma Stone’s reaction video. |EOnline|

MORNING LINKS
Coming up later today: A new Frotcast, a review of Our Idiot Brother, Paul Rudd’s latest

Pictured: This a dog dressed like the Incredible Hulk! |FlyingScotsman|

Good News Ladies, We’ve Got Metal Bras For You |Gamma Squad|

Best of NBC Thursday Night Supercuts |UPROXX|

NBC Buys 80′s Wrestling Drama from The Rock and Jerry Bruckheimer |Warming Glow|

Female Reporter Wants Her Butt Signed |With Leather|

Chrissy Henderson is your almost naked chick of the day. |GorillaMask|

Miley Cyrus has a brother who looks like Kat Von D in drag. |TheSuperficial|

Video of kids krumping is the best. |Videogum|

10 scandalous VP stories not in Dick Cheney’s book. |MentalFloss|

Gaddafi had a spank book of pictures of Condoleeza Rice. |TheDailyWhat|

How to cook placenta. |HolyTaco|

The 11 Worst Songs to Have Sex To |Buzzfeed|

TV Characters Who Should Be BFF in Real Life |FARK|

Henry Winkler F’n Loves Fly Fishing |Adult Swim|

7 Famous Album Covers Featuring People Who Didn’t Want to Be There |The Smoking Jacket|

Five videos to remember Steve Jobs. |ScreenJunkies|

Nominate for Comments of the Week. Subscribe to the Frotcast. Follow me on Twitter.

“I just wanted to let you know that I think you’re all the way beautiful. Not just pretty, but, you know, smart and kindhearted. And if I were a lot younger, I would marry you, and we would have chubby little freckled faced kids. We’d laugh all day long and go camping and play Yahtzee and tell ghost stories by the fire. And the sex? Everyday for the rest of your life, you would thank God that I was the appropriate age for you. But I’m not. I’m 49. I have lines on my face, sometimes a little grey in my beard, and it takes me a little longer to pee than it used to. Those are the only discernible signs of aging that I can find so far.
Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how I felt. You’re pretty special, and I wish you continued success and artistic fulfillment, but most of all, I wish you love and contentment. That’s all.” [TheSuperficial]

A new trailer for Mr. Popper’s Penguins (in theaters June 17th!) has hit the web, which presents something of a dilemma for me.  Because, while my enthusiasm for Jim Carrey hamming it up for the camera has waned over the years, in conjunction with his typically-Canadian slide towards total insanity (see also: Aykroyd, Dan), my ability to watch penguins waddle around squawking and sliding around on their bellies like portly, tuxedo-ed drunks knows virtually no bounds.  HEE HEE! LOOK AT THEM WADDLE! (*claps hands*)

Now, while we could discuss the worst of the family comedy clichés on display here — the toilet-flush gag, the workaholic father, the flooded bathroom, a gratuitous dance scene, YOU’RE RUINING MY IMPORTANT BUSINESS MEETING! — I think it’s more interesting to note that the entire film can basically be boiled down into three frames:

Additional Note: There was a fart sound between the first and second frames. -via Comingsoon

Serious question: When's the last time you saw a children's movie that DIDN'T have at least one dance scene in the trailer?

After the jump, you can watch the first trailer for Mr. Popper’s Penguins, directed by Mark Waters, starring Jim Carrey as a businessman who turns his apartment into a winter wonderland after he inherits a family of penguins. Carrey’s last movie, I Love You Phillip Morris, was shelved for almost a year and barely released in the US (100 theaters at its widest) over concerns that it was too gay for US audiences.  Which is pretty funny considering how hard everyone’s trying to rip off Glee these days.  After that debacle, you wouldn’t think a studio would be so quick to push Jim Carrey playing a character named “Mr. Popper,” but here we are.  I eagerly await the inevitable interracial gay porn parody, Amyl Popper Penguins.

The trailer begins with Carrey in his chilly apartment full of penguins, praying to God to help stop the polar ice caps from melting, which is ironic, considering HIS OWN IRRESPONSIBLE USE OF ENERGY PRODUCES GREENHOUSE GASES DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR MELTING THOSE SAME ICE CAPS!  DOY!  Anyway, the film is an adaptation of the Newbery Medal Winning children’s book of the same name from… 1938.  Timely.  My great grandfather Jedidiah has already written three blog posts promising to skullf*ck these asshats for pissing on his childhood.

[opens June 17th, via ComingSoon]

Now I realize this is going to sound farfetched, but apparently there’s more than just a few ways to burn through a large amount of money very quickly: purchasing excess amounts of black tar heroin, investing poorly in a sh**ty rapper’s vodka company, cramming all that money up a body cavity -or, if you happen to reside in Hollywood, you can always just grossly overpay the star of your next big (supposed) blockbuster. Yeah, that’s also a great way to get rid of a bunch of cash -but just how much money constitutes a bunch? Well, in an apparent attempt to answer that question (and inspire mass suicides everywhere) Forbes just released their 2010 list of Hollywood’s Most Overpaid Actors. You know, just to really help put into perspective how truly underpaid you are at your day job. And just to lay any rumors to rest, neither Nic Cage or Billy Zane made the list this year, sorry.

To formulate their list, Forbes first started with the 36 highest-earning actors from Hollywood. To qualify, during the past five years, each actor would have to have starred in, at least, three films that opened in more than 500 theaters. After this initial categorization, they then began to factor in various other details like penis length and bench press ability.

We used data gathered for our annual Celebrity 100 list to calculate each star’s estimated earnings on each film (including up-front pay and any earnings from the movie’s box-office receipts, DVD and TV sales). We then looked at each movie’s estimated budget [...] and box-office, DVD and television earnings to figure out an operating income for each film.

We added up each star’s compensation on his or her last three films and the operating income on those films, an divided total operating income by the star’s total compensation to come up with a return-on-investment number. The final number represents an average of how much a studio earns for every dollar paid.

Forbes fails to mention how many interns bludgeoned themselves to death with graphing calculators, during the research, but I can only assume the final count was north of ten.

Top 10 Overpaid Actors after the cut.

1. Will Ferrell:
For every $1 Ferrell was paid, his films earned an average $3.35.

2. Eddie Murphy:
For every $1 Murphy gets paid, his films earn an average $4.45.

3. Denzel Washington:
For every $1 Washington earned, his films returned an average $5.10.

4. Seth Rogan:
For every $1 Rogen was paid, his movies earned $6.75.

5. Tom Cruise:
For every $1 Cruise was paid, his films earned an average $7.20.

6. Drew Barrymore:
For every $1 Barrymore was paid, her films earned an average $7.45.

7. MATT DAMON:
Until he has another big hit, for every $1 Damon gets paid, his films earn an average $8.30.

8. Vince Vaughn:
For every $1 Vaughn was paid, his films earned $8.35.

9. Adam Sandler:
For every $1 Sandler was paid, his films earned an average $8.45.

10. Jim Carrey:
For every $1 Carrey was paid, his films earned $8.60.

Hat tip, once again, to Forbes for the assist.

The first time I heard Jim Carrey was starring in a movie called “I Love You Phillip Morris,” I figured, “Phillip Morris?  Why, that movie’s probably about smoking.”  As it turns out, Jim Carrey’s character in the film does love smoking. …PENISES!  HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, get it?  He likes smoking penises?  Seriously though, he’s gay.  Not sure if you caught that.

—-
(trailer is r-rated, and borderline NSFW for cursing and implied “electric car” sex)

I Love You Phillip Morris comes from Bad Santa writers Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (love that movie).  It played at Sundance two years ago and it seemed like everyone was afraid to distribute it in the US (which probably means it’s decent), but now Roadside Attractions is finally putting it out in December.  Hey, you know what’d be a “roadside attraction” for Jim Carrey’s character?  A dude’s wiener.

What?  No high five?

Buried has a new poster out.  I’m offended that “‘Faux-artsy torture porn,’ -Vince Mancini, FilmDrunk.com” didn’t make their precious little list. And also that Ryan Reynolds is wearing a shirt.  For shame. [Collider]

Jim Carrey to star in Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  Mean Girls/Spiderwick Chronicles director Mark Waters will direct Carrey in an adaptation of the 1938 children’s book.  The contemporized plot: “a high-powered businessman suddenly inherits six penguins. As he gets acquainted with his winged roommates, Popper’s life quickly unravels: his swanky New York apartment is turned into a snowy winter wonderland, the deal he’s long been working on is derailed, and he almost lands in jail.  But thanks to his new charges, Popper comes to understand the importance of family – human and otherwise.”  Well that sounds like every comedy ever. “Damn you, penguins! (*record scratch*) You’ve covered my blueprints with snow! (*Trombone fart*) Now I’ll never make that important business meeting with the Japanese!(*sproing*)”  In related news, Tom Cruise has agreed to star in Amyl Popper’s Penguins, “as long as there are no gays in there.” |Deadline|

Maggie Gyllenhaal to star in Victorian vibrator drama. She’ll appear opposite Rupert Everett and Hugh Dancy in Hysteria, a romantic comedy about the London doctors who began treating “hysteria” (“a woman’s irritability, anger or unexplained tears”) with their new electrical device (replacing the previous treatment, a hearty throttling).  Before they could market it, the two would have to withstand a public smear campaign from Thomas Edison, who tried to demonstrate that their product was dangerous by vibrating to death an elephant’s vagina.  Which, coincidentally, is also the medical term for your mother’s condition. |Variety|

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Adrien Brody rumored for the lead in Fantastic Four reboot.  Screenrant says Fox is looking at Meyers and Brody for the role of Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic) and that Amber Heard is in the running for Sue Storm.  According to my sources, the film is still slated to screen as a Who Gives a Sh*t Channel exclusive.  In related news, I think I threw out my back dismissively wanking. |Screenrant|

USA Today debuts first picture from Ron Howard’s The Dilemma.  That’s the one that stars Vince Vaughn as a guy who finds out his best friend Kevin James’ wife is cheating on him, written by Allan Loeb, the guy who wrote The Switch and 21.  Oof. I don’t know how you could possibly make that sound worse.  Says USA Today: “Plus, a sibling cameo tradition continues: ‘Clint Howard has a nice turn.’”  (*screams, dives through plate-glass window*)